KR20120038926A - Glass melting furnace, process for producing molten glass, apparatus for producing glass product, and process for producing glass product - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention provides the glass melting furnace etc. which can maintain the homogeneity of a molten glass in the apparatus and its method which melt | dissolve glass raw material particle and a glass cullet piece, and its method.
According to the present invention, the glass raw material particles are dropped from the glass raw material particle heating unit 14 including the oxygen combustion burners 34, 34. It is set as the liquid glass particle 38, 38 ... in the hot gaseous phase by the flames 32, 32 ... of the 34). At the time of heating and melting of the glass raw material particles, the glass cullet pieces 30, 30..., By the feeding means 40 of the glass cullet piece inserting unit 12, a plurality of flames 32, 32. Into the radial direction.

Description

Glass melting furnace, manufacturing method of molten glass, manufacturing apparatus of glassware, and manufacturing method of glassware {GLASS MELTING FURNACE, PROCESS FOR PRODUCING MOLTEN GLASS, APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING GLASS PRODUCT, AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING GLASS PRODUCT}

The present invention provides a glass melting furnace for forming a molten glass by forming liquid glass particles from glass raw material particles in a high temperature gaseous atmosphere, a method for producing molten glass by the glass melting furnace, an apparatus for manufacturing a glass product provided with the melting furnace, and The manufacturing method of the glassware using the said manufacturing method.

Patent Documents 1 and 2 are glass melting furnaces for melting and integrating glass raw material particles in a high temperature gaseous atmosphere to produce molten glass, wherein a high temperature gaseous atmosphere for melting the glass raw material particle input portion and the glass raw material particles into the ceiling of the glass melting furnace. A glass melting furnace having heating means for forming a metal is disclosed.

The glass melting furnace melts the glass raw material particles introduced into the furnace from the glass raw material particle input unit in a high temperature gaseous atmosphere heated by a heating means to form liquid glass particles, and the liquid glass particles are integrated at the bottom of the glass melting furnace. It is an apparatus which forms a glass melt, and temporarily stores a glass melt at the bottom of a glass melting furnace and discharges it. Moreover, the manufacturing method of such a molten glass is known as the in-air melting method of glass. According to this air melting method, the energy consumption of the glass melting process can be reduced to about one third as compared with the conventional melting method using a Siemens kiln, and melting can be performed in a short time. omitted, and improvement of the quality, the reduction of CO _2, are known to reduce the shortening of the time change of the glass variety. The air melting method of such glass is attracting attention as an energy saving technique.

By the way, the glass raw material particle thrown in from the glass raw material particle input part is what is granulated to 1 mm or less generally. The glass raw material particles put into the glass melting furnace melt one by one while falling in a high temperature gaseous atmosphere, and become liquid glass particles, and the liquid glass particles fall downwards to the bottom of the glass melting furnace. To form a glass melt. The liquid glass particle produced | generated from this glass raw material particle is also represented by glass droplet. In order to produce | generate liquid glass particle from glass raw material particle | grains in a short time in high temperature gaseous-phase atmosphere, the particle diameter of glass raw material particle | grains needs to be small as mentioned above. In addition, in general, the individual liquid glass particles generated from the individual glass raw material particles need to be particles having almost the same glass composition.

The decomposition gas component generated when the glass raw material particles become liquid glass particles is a small particle of both the glass raw material particles and the liquid glass particles, so most of them are released to the outside of the liquid glass particles without being trapped inside the resulting liquid glass particles. do. For this reason, there is little possibility that a bubble will generate | occur | produce in the glass melt in which liquid glass particle was accumulated.

On the other hand, each glass raw material particle is a particle | grain which is a substantially uniform constituent raw material component, and the glass composition of each liquid glass particle which arises from it is also mutually uniform. Since there is little difference in glass composition between liquid glass particles, there is little possibility that the part from which a glass composition differs in the glass melt formed by accumulating many liquid glass particles. For this reason, the homogenization means for homogenizing the glass composition of the glass melt required for the conventional glass melting furnace is hardly required by the in-air melting method. Although a few liquid glass particles may have different glass compositions from most other liquid glass particles, since the liquid glass particles are particles having a small particle diameter, the glass in the glass melt generated from a few liquid glass particles having different glass compositions The heterogeneous region of the composition is small, and this heterogeneous region is easily homogenized and lost in a short time. As described above, in the air melting method, the heat energy required for homogenization of the glass melt can be reduced, and the time required for homogenization can be shortened.

The heating means of patent documents 1 and 2 is a heating means which forms a high temperature gaseous-phase atmosphere, Comprising: It is provided with the several arc electrode and the oxygen combustion nozzle, and the heat plasma arc and the oxygen combustion nozzle which a plurality of arc electrodes form are provided. An oxygen combustion flame (flame) forms a high temperature gaseous atmosphere of about 1600 ° C. or higher in the furnace. By inject | pouring glass raw material particle in this high temperature gaseous-phase atmosphere, glass raw material particle | grains are changed into liquid glass particle in high temperature gaseous-phase atmosphere.

The molten glass of about 1600 degreeC manufactured by the glass melting furnace of patent documents 1 and 2 is supplied from a glass melting furnace to a temperature control tank or a clarification tank, and is cooled to the temperature which can be shape | molded here (about 1000 degreeC in soda-lime glass). And this molten glass is supplied to the shaping | molding means of glass products, such as a float bath, a fusion molding machine, a rollout molding machine, a blow molding machine, and a press molding machine, and is shape | molded here by the glass molded object of various shapes. And a glass molded object is cooled to near room temperature by a slow cooling means, and after that, after passing through the cutting process by a cutting means and / or other post process, it is manufactured into a desired glass product.

By the way, regarding manufacture of a molten glass, since the use of a glass cullet piece other than glass raw material particle | grains is indispensable, in order to make practical use of the air melting method, it is required that it is the apparatus which can use a glass cullet piece together.

Therefore, in Patent Document 1, the glass cullet piece is pulverized into a particle shape having a particle size of 0.1 mm or less, or pulverized into a particle shape having a particle size of 0.05 mm or less, and it is passed through a high-temperature gaseous atmosphere together with other glass raw material particles to be integrated. The manufacturing method of the molten glass made into a glass melt, etc. are disclosed. In addition, Patent Literature 1 also discloses a method of preliminarily heating a glass cullet piece pulverized to an outer diameter of about 1 mm at about 700 ° C. at another location, and then directly feeding the molten glass and heating it.

Similarly, Patent Document 2 discloses a method for producing a molten glass in which a glass cullet piece is pulverized into a particle shape having a particle diameter of 5 μm and passed along with other glass raw material particles in a high temperature gaseous atmosphere to be integrated into a glass melt. It is. In addition, Patent Literature 2 also discloses a method of preliminarily heating a glass cullet piece pulverized to an outer diameter of about 5 mm at about 700 ° C. at another location, and then directly inputting and heating the molten glass.

Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-199549 Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-297239

In the manufacturing method of the molten glass of patent documents 1 and 2 in which the combined melting technique of glass raw material particle and glass cullet piece was disclosed, the molten glass already melt | dissolved in a melting furnace and the injected glass cullet piece uniformly mix well, regardless of the presence or absence of preheating. I am concerned about not working. This is because the original size of each particle of the glass raw material particles is at most several hundred micrometers, the size of the cullet is small, and from several millimeters to the larger one, the order of several centimeters. Since the glass and the molten glass in which the glass cullet piece was melt | dissolved are slightly different in the hysteresis of heat, there exists a possibility that it may be heterogeneous slightly. This problem is important for glass products requiring high appearance quality and optical quality.

However, Patent Documents 1 and 2 do not disclose any countermeasures for the fear of decreasing the homogeneity of the molten glass when using the glass cullet pieces as described above.

This invention is made | formed in view of such a situation, making glass raw material particles into liquid glass particles, making glass cullet pieces at least the surface liquefied glass particle in a hot gaseous-phase atmosphere, and making both glass particles into a furnace bottom. In the manufacturing method of the molten glass which accumulates and uses it as a glass melt, it aims at providing the glass melting furnace which can maintain the homogeneity of molten glass, the manufacturing method of a molten glass, the manufacturing apparatus of a glass product, and the manufacturing method of a glass product. .

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides glass raw particles as liquid glass particles in a gaseous atmosphere in a glass melting furnace, and integrates the liquid glass particles into the bottom of the glass melting furnace to form a glass melt, and discharges the glass melt. A glass melting furnace comprising: a glass cullet piece feeding portion formed through a ceiling of the glass melting furnace; a plurality of glasses disposed around the glass cullet piece feeding portion in plan view and further installed downward in an upper furnace wall portion in the glass melting furnace; A heating means for forming a gaseous phase portion including the glass raw material particles as liquid glass particles under the glass raw material particle input portion formed in each of the raw material particle input portions and the plurality of glass raw material particle input portions; The furnace bottom part which forms, and the discharge part which discharge | releases the said glass melt are provided, The said glass Ritpyeon provides a glass melting furnace characterized in that the input comprises a portion, toward the input means for the gas phase In a glass curl ritpyeon radially.

Moreover, this invention provides the manufacturing method of the molten glass characterized by manufacturing the molten glass using the glass melting furnace of this invention, in order to achieve the said objective.

According to this invention, glass raw material particle melts in the hot gas phase part formed under the glass raw material particle input part, and becomes liquid glass particle. The gaseous-phase part which makes glass raw material particle into liquid glass particle is formed below a glass raw material particle input part by a heating means. The heating means is an oxygen combustion burner, a polyphase arc plasma generator, or the like. The high temperature gas phase portion formed by the heating means is a flame in the case of the oxygen combustion burner, and a thermal plasma in the case of the polyphase arc plasma generator. The heating means is formed for every glass raw material particle | grain injecting part, and the said high temperature gaseous-phase part is formed below each glass raw material particle injecting part, respectively.

The gaseous-phase part which makes glass raw material particle formed by heating means into liquid glass particle is also called a heating gaseous-phase part below.

The glass cullet piece is fed to the heated gas phase part by a feeding means of the glass cullet piece feeding part. In the plan view, since the said glass raw material particle input part is arrange | positioned around a glass cullet piece input part, and the heating gaseous-phase part is formed below each glass raw material particle input part, a heating gaseous-phase part does not exist just under a glass cullet piece input part. It exists below the inclination, and exists in multiple numbers below the glass cullet piece input part periphery. In order to inject a glass cullet piece from a glass cullet piece input part toward such a heating gaseous-phase part, a glass cullet piece input part has the feeding means which injects a glass cullet piece radially toward a heating gaseous-phase part.

According to this invention, a glass cullet piece can fully be heated by the said heating gaseous-phase part, Preferably, at least one part can be melted. That is, one part (for example, surface part)-all of one glass cullet piece can be melt | dissolved, and the number of particle | grains of at least one part of many glass cullet pieces can be melted. As an average of these two melt states, the ratio of the volume of the molten cullet portion to the volume of the cullet piece immediately after the injecting is referred to as the molten portion volume ratio below. This invention has the advantage that the molten part volume ratio of the injected cullet piece can be increased.

In-air melting of glass raw material particle is performed every combination of a glass raw material particle input part and a heating means (henceforth a glass raw material particle heating unit). That is, in one glass raw material particle heating unit, glass raw material particle is thrown in the heating gaseous-phase part in a furnace from the glass raw material particle input part provided downward from the furnace wall part of the upper part of a glass melting furnace, and the glass which is falling in the heating gaseous-phase part is lowered. The raw material particles are heated and melted to become liquid glass particles. The liquid glass particles generated in the heated gas phase portion fall to the bottom of the furnace and accumulate to form a glass melt. In this invention, the glass raw material particle heating unit is arrange | positioned in multiple numbers around the said glass cullet piece input part in planar view.

In addition, the furnace wall part of the upper part of the glass melting furnace in this invention means the range within 1 m from the ceiling part of a glass melting furnace, and the inner wall of a ceiling part.

On the other hand, the glass cullet piece put into the said heating gaseous-phase part formed below the glass raw material particle input part is heated similarly to glass raw material particle, Preferably it becomes the particle which melt | dissolved at least one part, and falls with a liquid glass particle to the bottom of a furnace. And accumulate to form a glass melt.

The liquid glass particles and the heated glass cullet pieces are mixed in the heated gaseous phase portion or in the space below it. At this time, at least one part of the liquid glass particles may be attached to the heated glass cullet piece and integrated with the glass cullet piece. Moreover, at least one part of the liquid glass particles may be coalesced to form larger liquid glass particles, and a part of the glass cullet piece may be coalesced. In this way, the liquid glass particles and the heated glass cullet piece are mixed in the heated gaseous phase part, and fall and accumulate to form a glass melt, thereby improving the uniformity of the mixture of both in the glass melt.

Moreover, according to this invention, since a glass cullet piece is thrown radially toward the said heating gaseous-phase part, a cullet piece can be spread | distributed evenly in all the said heating gaseous-phase parts which exist in the circumference | surroundings of a glass cullet piece insertion part. In addition, compared with the case where the glass cullet piece concentrates and falls only at the same point in the related art, the position where the glass cullet piece falls is dispersed. For this reason, when a glass cullet piece has heterogeneity with respect to an average glass composition, temperature, etc. as a whole, the heterogeneity in a glass melt disperse | distributes and a glass melt will homogenize more quickly.

Moreover, according to this invention, the said injecting means is provided with the conical guide member by which the top part was arrange | positioned at the top, while being connected through the clearance which the glass cullet piece can pass through the inlet passage and the lower opening part of the inlet cylinder. It is preferable.

The present invention forms a conical guide member in the glass raw material particle input portion, so that the glass cullet piece introduced from the input cylinder flows down along the conical surface of the guide member, is scattered radially, and enters the heated gaseous phase portion. Thereby, a glass cullet piece can be supplied to each heating gaseous-phase part, and since the heated glass cullet piece can be prevented from falling to the same point continuously, the homogeneity of glass melt improves.

Moreover, when there are many doses of a glass cullet piece, it is preferable to interpose a glass cullet piece intermittently. In the case where the amount of the glass cullet pieces is large, even if the glass cullet pieces are scattered radially, the glass cullet pieces heated at the same point on the circular surface of the glass melt surface tend to fall continuously, which may cause the homogeneity of the glass melt to be lowered. Because. By supplying a glass cullet piece intermittently, even if the heated glass cullet piece falls to the same point, it falls in time discontinuously, and there exists a possibility that the homogeneity of a glass melt will fall.

Moreover, according to this invention, it is preferable that the said input means is equipped with the input cylinder which has the opening opening made in the predetermined angle with respect to a perpendicular direction, and the rotation means which rotates this input cylinder with a vertical axis as a rotation axis. .

In this invention, a glass cullet piece can be supplied to each heating gaseous-phase part sequentially by inject | pouring a glass cullet piece radially from an inlet port, rotating a feeding cylinder by a rotation means. At the same time, the introduction of the glass cullet piece can be dispersed spatially rather than continuously, thereby limiting the area to be introduced at one time. In other words, when the feeding cylinder is rotated by the rotating means, the glass cullet piece is supplied to the first heating gas phase part facing the inlet, and is sequentially supplied to the next heating gas phase part by the rotation of the feeding cylinder. Thereby, a glass cullet piece can be supplied sequentially to each heating gaseous-phase part. At the same time, when the input space of the glass cullet piece is dispersed and attention is paid to one heating gas phase part, the glass cullet piece is intermittently supplied. Therefore, since this invention can spatially disperse | distribute input of a glass cullet piece and can carry out intermittently, it can further prevent that a molten glass cullet piece falls to the same place continuously as mentioned above, and maintains homogeneity further. Can be. Moreover, the fall position of a glass cullet piece can be further disperse | distributed by changing the rotational speed of an injection container and changing the centrifugal force applied to a glass cullet piece.

Moreover, according to this invention, it is preferable that the said glass melting furnace arrange | positions the said some glass raw material particle input part along the concentric phase centering on the said glass cullet piece input part in planar view.

Moreover, it is preferable that the said heating means is at least 1 of the polyphase arc plasma generating apparatus which this invention consists of an oxygen combustion burner which generate | occur | produces an oxygen combustion flame, and a pair or more pair of electrodes which generate | occur | produce a thermal plasma.

According to the present invention, in the case of the oxygen combustion flame by the oxygen combustion burner, a high-temperature gaseous atmosphere of about 2000 ° C. can be formed, and in the case of thermal plasma, 5000? It is possible to form a high temperature gas phase atmosphere of 20000 ° C. Therefore, while being able to melt the glass raw material particle falling in the gaseous-phase atmosphere for a short time, a glass cullet piece can be heated favorably. In addition, an oxygen combustion burner and a polyphase arc plasma generator may be provided independently, or may use both together. Moreover, as an oxygen combustion burner used as a heating means, the burner of the form in which the glass raw material particle input part was integrated can be used.

Moreover, in order to achieve the said objective, this invention is equipped with the glass melting furnace of this invention, the shaping | molding means which shape | molds the molten glass formed in the downstream of the said discharge part of this glass melting furnace, and the slow cooling means which cools the glass after shaping | molding. An apparatus for producing a glass article is provided.

Moreover, in order to achieve the said objective, this invention includes the process of manufacturing molten glass by the manufacturing method of the molten glass of this invention, the process of shape | molding the molten glass, and the process of cooling the glass after shaping | molding. It provides a method for producing a glass product characterized by.

According to the manufacturing apparatus of the glassware of this invention, and the manufacturing method of a glassware, molten glass is manufactured using the glass melting furnace of this invention mentioned above, the molten glass is shape | molded by a shaping | molding means, and further a slow cooling means The glass after molding is quenched to produce a glass product.

As explained above, according to the glass melting furnace of this invention and the manufacturing method of a molten glass, even when using a glass cullet piece, the homogeneity of a molten glass can be maintained.

Moreover, according to the manufacturing apparatus of the glassware of this invention, and the manufacturing method of a glassware, molten glass can be manufactured by maintaining the homogeneity even when using a glass cullet piece by the glass melting furnace and the manufacturing method of this invention. As a result, glass products of good quality can be produced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the glass melting furnace of 1st Embodiment which comprises the manufacturing apparatus of the glassware of this invention.
FIG. 2 is a sectional plan view of the main part of the glass melting furnace shown in FIG. 1. FIG.
It is an enlarged perspective view of the principal part which showed the structure of the input container of the glass cullet piece input part shown in FIG.
It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the glass melting furnace of 2nd Embodiment which comprises the manufacturing apparatus of the glassware of this invention.
FIG. 5 is a sectional plan view of the main part of the glass melting furnace shown in FIG. 4. FIG.
6 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of a method for producing a glass article of the embodiment.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, preferred embodiment of the glass melting furnace which concerns on this invention, the manufacturing method of a molten glass, the manufacturing apparatus of a glass product, and the manufacturing method of a glass product which concerns on an accompanying drawing is described.

In the illustrated glass melting furnace, the heating means for forming the heated gas phase portion is composed of an oxygen combustion burner. The heated gas phase part is composed of a high temperature part in and near the flame of the oxygen combustion burner.

The glass raw material particle input unit for supplying the glass raw material particles to the heated gaseous phase unit is integrated with an oxygen combustion burner, a tube for supplying combustion gas near the oxygen combustion burner outlet, a tube for supplying oxygen and a tube for supplying glass raw material particles It is comprised by this coaxial. The combination of this glass raw material particle | grain injection part and an oxygen combustion burner is called glass raw material particle heating unit.

FIG. 1: is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the glass melting furnace 10 of 1st Embodiment which comprises the glass melting furnace of this invention, and FIG. 2 is a principal part cross-sectional sectional view except the ceiling wall of the glass melting furnace 10. As shown in FIG. In addition, in FIG. 2, the glass cullet piece input part 12 and the glass raw material particle heating unit 14 which are mentioned later are abbreviate | omitted by the (circle) display.

The glass melting furnace 10 is equipped with the melting tank 16 and the outlet 18, and the melting tank 16 and the outlet 18 are comprised by the well-known fire brick. Moreover, the molten bath 16 is comprised in the rectangular parallelepiped shape, The glass cullet piece input part 12 penetrates the ceiling wall 20 in the vertical direction, and the glass cullet piece is thrown in the ceiling wall 20, Eight glass raw material particle heating units 14, 14... Are formed around the unit 12 downwardly through the ceiling wall 20, whereby a high temperature gas phase part that uses the glass raw material particles in the furnace as liquid glass particles. (That is, a heated gas phase part) is formed.

As shown in FIG. 2, eight glass raw material particle heating units 14, 14... Are provided at equal intervals on a concentric circle centered on the glass cullet piece feeding unit 12. In addition, the case where the glass raw material particle heating unit 14 is not in the ceiling wall 20 but in the side wall 17 (refer FIG. 1) of the upper part of the melting tank 16 is also the scope of this invention. When the glass raw material particle heating unit 14 is formed in the side wall 17, it is formed in the height from the inner wall of the ceiling wall 20 of the melting tank 16 to 1 m in a perpendicular direction. When the glass raw material particle heating unit 14 is formed in a position exceeding 1 m in the vertical direction from the inner wall of the ceiling wall 20 of the melting tank 16, the glass melting in the glass raw material particle heating unit 14 This is because the vertical distance with the liquid surface becomes too small, the angle formed with the horizontal direction becomes small, and the glass particles are sprayed on the opposing wall surface, resulting in furnace wall erosion and glass contamination. The glass raw material particle heating unit 14 is preferably formed at a height of up to 90 cm in the vertical direction from the inner wall of the ceiling wall 20 of the melting tank 16, and more preferably at a height of up to 50 cm. Do.

Moreover, the number of the glass raw material particle heating units 14 is not limited to eight, What is necessary is just two or more as long as it can surround the glass cullet piece input part 12. In addition, the arrangement | positioning form of the glass raw material particle heating unit 14 is not limited to a concentric circle, and arrange | positions along the form which encloses the glass cullet piece input part 12, for example, a triangular shape, a square shape, and an elliptical shape. It may be in the form. However, the glass cullet pieces 30, 30..., Supplied from the glass cullet piece feeding unit 12 are placed in the flames 32, 32..., Heating zones generated in the glass raw material particle heating units 14, 14. For even dropping, the concentric arrangement of the above shapes is preferred.

In each bath of the melting tank 16 and the outlet 18, the glass melt G is stored, and the glass melt G manufactured by the melting tank 16 flows downstream through the outlet 18. It is configured to.

As the glass raw material particle heating unit 14, the oxygen combustion burner 34 in which the heating means which forms a glass raw material particle input part and a heating gaseous-phase part is integrated is applied.

This oxygen combustion burner 34 is an oxygen combustion burner in which a raw material, a fuel, and an oxygen supply nozzle are known, which are known as burners for inorganic powder heating. The nozzles 36 at the distal end of the oxygen combustion burner 34 are generally concentric in the order of the fuel supply nozzle, the primary combustion gas supply nozzle, the glass raw material particle supply nozzle, and the secondary combustion gas supply nozzle from the center toward the outer peripheral portion. It is arranged on. The flame 32 is sprayed downward from the nozzle 36, and glass raw material particles are supplied from the glass raw material particle supply nozzle by air conveyance or mechanical conveyance in the flame 32. Thereby, glass raw material particle can be melted reliably and in a short time. Although not shown, the oxygen combustion burner 34 includes a raw material supply system for supplying glass raw material particles to the glass raw material particle supply nozzle, a fuel supply system for supplying fuel to the fuel supply nozzle, and a delay. The delayed gas supply system which supplies gas to the delayed gas supply nozzle for primary combustion and the delayed gas supply nozzle for secondary combustion is connected.

Thus, when the oxygen combustion burner 34 in which the glass raw material particle injecting unit and the heating means are integrated is used, since the oxygen combustion burner 34 also serves as the glass raw material particle injecting unit, the glass raw material particle injecting unit is formed separately. There is no need to do it. However, you may form the glass raw material particle input part which injects glass raw material particle toward the flame 32 of the oxygen combustion burner 34 adjacent to the oxygen combustion burner 34 individually.

In addition, as a heating means, it is not limited to the oxygen combustion burner 34, You may form the polyphase arc plasma generating apparatus which consists of one or more pair of electrodes which generate | occur | produce a thermal plasma in the wall surface of the melting tank 16, Both the oxygen combustion burner 34 and the polyphase arc plasma generator may be formed in the melting tank 16. In addition, the temperature of the flame 32 and the thermal plasma of the oxygen-burning burner 34 is equal to or higher than the melting temperature of the silica sand in order to rapidly gasify and oxidize the gas component contained in the glass raw material particles and to advance the vitrification reaction. It is preferable to set it to 1600 degreeC or more. As a result, the glass raw material particles dropped into the furnace are rapidly gasified and dissipated by the flame 32 and / or thermal plasma, and are heated at a high temperature to become liquid glass particles and land in the bottom region of the melting tank 16. To a glass melt. The glass melt formed by the accumulation of the liquid glass particles is continuously heated by the flame 32 and / or the thermal plasma, so that the vitrified form is maintained. In the case of the flame 32, the center temperature thereof is about 2000 ° C. in the case of oxygen combustion, and 5000? 20000 ° C.

In addition, the particle | grains 38 shown in the flame 32 and below the flame 32 in FIG. 1 or FIG. 3 are the particle | grains which the glass raw material particle turns into the particle which became liquid glass particle, or liquid glass particle already. The particles are shown. It is thought that the particle | grain below flame at least is changing into liquid glass particle. Hereinafter, this illustrated particle 38 is referred to as liquid glass particles 38.

On the other hand, the glass cullet piece input part 12 is equipped with the input means 40 which injects the glass cullet piece 30 in a furnace. This injection means 40 is comprised from the injection cylinder 42, the guide member 44, and the glass cullet piece supply part 46. As shown in FIG. The injection cylinder 42 is arrange | positioned through the ceiling wall 20, and the guide member 44 is attached to 42 A of lower opening parts of the injection cylinder 42. As shown in FIG. This guide member 44 is an umbrella-shaped member formed conical as shown in FIG. 3, while the top part 44A is arrange | positioned at the upper part, and the clearance gap 45 through which the glass cullet piece 30 can pass. It is connected to the feed cylinder 42 by the connection member 48. As shown in FIG. The connecting member 48 has a vertical axis 50 connected to the top portion 44A and four horizontal axes of the same length radially connected to the vertical axis 50 so as not to obstruct the passage of the glass cullet piece 30 as much as possible. 52, 52 ...). These four horizontal shafts 52, 52... Are connected to the inner circumferential surface of the injection cylinder 42, whereby the guide member 44 is in a state where the central axis of the injection cylinder 42 and the central axis of the guide member 44 coincide with each other. It is connected to the input container 42. In FIG. 1, although the injection cylinder 42 protrudes from the ceiling wall 20 to the inside of the dissolution tank 16, you may comprise so that it may become the same surface as the inner wall surface of the ceiling wall 20. In FIG. The material of the injection cylinder 42 can illustrate water-cooled metal, ceramics, etc.

Moreover, the glass cullet piece supply part 46 supplies the glass cullet pieces 30, 30 ... which were gathered in the hopper 54 to the injection cylinder 42, The structure is the air conveyance connected to the injection cylinder 42. The system 60 is provided, and the supply system 62 of the hopper 54 is connected to this air conveyance system 60, and is comprised.

When the suctioned glass cullet pieces 30, 30... Are air conveyed and supplied to the feed cylinder 42, and reach the lower opening 42A of the feed cylinder 42, the guide member 44 is shown. It guides to cone surface 44B shown in 3, and changes a flow in a radial direction. And the glass cullet pieces 30, 30 ... are thrown in inclined downward direction to eight flames 32, 32 ... formed in the circumference | surroundings of the guide member 44. As shown in FIG. In addition, although the glass cullet piece is air conveyed in an Example, mechanical conveyance may be sufficient. When the size of a glass cullet piece is large, a machine conveyance side is preferable rather than air conveyance.

In this invention, a "glass cullet" means the glass cullet which consists of a glass composition substantially the same as the glass of the glass product which is an end object in this invention. This glass cullet usually arises in the process of manufacturing the glass product which is an end object from the glass melt formed in the melting furnace bottom part in this invention. However, it is not limited to this, The glass cullet which arises from the manufacturing process of the other glass goods which consists of a glass composition substantially the same as the glass of the glass goods which are the final objects of this invention, and the glass goods which are the final objects obtained by this invention are used. The glass cullet etc. which generate | occur | produce from the process to make may be sufficient. The glass melting furnace in the manufacturing process of the said other glass article is not limited to the glass melting furnace using the in-air melting method.

Since the glass composition of the glass cullet is almost the same as the glass composition of the glass formed of the glass raw material particles, the glass composition of the glass melt in which the liquid glass in which the glass cullet pieces are melted and the liquid glass formed of the glass raw material particles are mixed, becomes uniform. The heat energy required for homogenization is small, and the time required for homogenization is short. The glass composition of the glass cullet and the glass composition of the liquid glass particles formed of the glass raw material particles are preferably the same, but the glass composition may change slightly while the glass melt formed at the bottom of the melting furnace becomes a glass product (for example, , Volatilization of volatile glass components such as boron oxide), and slight differences in such glass compositions are allowed.

In addition, since the glass cullet is made of a material which is already made of glass, the heated glass cullet piece is simply melted to become liquid glass particles. On the other hand, glass raw material particle | grains are liquid glass by thermal decomposition (for example, thermal decomposition of metal carbonate to metal oxide, etc.) of glass raw material, chemical reaction, such as reaction of the component used as glass called a vitrification reaction, and melting. Particles. The mechanism by which the solid particles become liquid glass particles is different from the glass raw material particles and the glass cullet pieces, but the resulting liquid glass particles are liquid glass particles having almost the same glass composition.

Next, the effect | action of the glass melting furnace comprised as mentioned above is demonstrated.

The glass melting furnace of the embodiment is a melting furnace for melting glass raw material particles. The high temperature gaseous phase portion is formed by eight oxygen combustion burners 34, 34..., And the glass raw material particles are liquid glass particles 38, 38... In other words, the glass raw material particles are introduced into the furnace from the oxygen combustion burners 34, 34, and the glass raw material particles being dropped are heated by the flames 32, 32 ... of the oxygen combustion burners 34, 34, and the liquid glass. Let it be the particle | grains (38, 38 ...). The liquid glass particles 38, 38... Drop downwards, are integrated in the furnace bottom portion 64 to form a glass melt G, and the glass melt G is temporarily stored in the furnace bottom portion 64.

It is not essential that the liquid glass particles 38, 38... Reach the furnace bottom 64 to the glass melt G surface as individual particles. Two or more of the liquid glass particles may be fused in a heated gas phase and landed on the furnace bottom portion 64 to the glass melt (G) surface.

The average particle diameter (weight average) of the glass raw material particles is 30? 1000 μm is preferred. More preferably, the average particle diameter (weight average) is 50? Glass raw material particles in the range of 500 µm are used, and 70? Glass raw material particles in the range of 300 µm are preferable. The average particle diameter (weight average) of the liquid glass particle 38, 38 ... into which the glass raw material particle melted is usually set to about 80% of the average particle diameter of the glass raw material particle.

At the time of the heating and melting of such glass raw material particles, in this melting tank 16, the glass cullet piece is inserted into the glass cullet piece input part 12 by the injection means 40 of the eight flames 32 around it. , 32...

That is, in the melting tank 16, a glass cullet piece is thrown into the flame 32 for glass raw material particle heating, and a glass cullet piece is heated in-air with glass raw material particle.

In addition, the particle | grain 30 shown in the flame 32 and the flame 32 vicinity in FIG. 1 or FIG. 3 represents the particle | grains in which the glass cullet piece became the liquid-released particle or liquid glass which melted already. have. As described below, the glass cullet piece is preferably liquefied at least in a heated gaseous phase. Therefore, the particle | grains 30 shown have shown the solid glass cullet piece (including the thing before injection into the melting tank 16), the glass cullet piece in which the surface was liquefied, and the whole glass cullet piece liquefied. These are collectively called the glass cullet piece 30 below.

Since each of the particles of the glass cullet pieces 30, 30... Put into the flame 32 is heated by the high heat of the flame 32, the molten portion volume ratio increases while each of the particles is sufficiently heated. That is, the surface of each of the particles of the glass cullet pieces 30, 30... Is high by eight flames 32, 32 .., and the surface thereof becomes 1000 ° C. or more, and becomes a viscous fluid of 1000 Pa · s or less. . Although the glass cullet piece 30 is not melt | dissolved in air completely and it is not necessary to make it the viscosity state of 100 Pa * s or less at the same temperature as the glass melt in a furnace, for example, 1400 degreeC or more, it is eight flames (32, 32 ...). ), The molten state of the glass cullet pieces 30, 30... Closes to the glass melt, and the heterogeneity with the liquid glass particles 38, 38...

The glass cullet piece is preferably liquefied at least in its surface portion before reaching the glass melt at the bottom of the furnace, but may reach the glass melt without liquefying.

In the glass cullet piece 30 which is thrown in from the glass cullet piece feeding container 42, the glass cullet piece itself is hardly scattered, and the glass cullet piece is collect | recovered and stored in a process or a market, and it goes to a glass cullet piece insertion port. It is preferable that the particle diameter is prescribed | regulated in order to introduce into the melting tank 16 in consideration of the efficiency in handling in the viewpoint of conveyance. That is, it is preferable to make the short diameter (a) of a glass cullet piece into 0.1 mm <a <50mm. The glass cullet piece which has a short diameter (a) changes the magnitude | size of the opening (opening) of a net, remains in a sieve, or passes through and selects it. That is, it is preferable that the glass cullet piece in this invention passes through the sieve whose size of the opening of a net is 0.1 mm, and passes through the sieve which is 50 mm in size of the opening of a net. 0.5 mm <a <30 mm is more preferable from a viewpoint of the said handling of a glass cullet piece. 5 mm <a <20mm is more preferable from a viewpoint of the said handling of a glass cullet piece.

In addition, since the liquid level of the glass melt G in the position where the glass cullet pieces 30, 30 ... falls is the part which is the highest temperature in the furnace by the high heat of the flames 32, 32 ... and the radiant heat from a furnace wall. Even if the molten portion volume ratio is low, the glass cullet pieces 30, 30... Are efficiently melted.

In addition, since the glass raw material particle is melted with the flame 32, 32 ... with the glass cullet pieces 30, 30 ..., the liquid glass particle 38, 38 ... is a glass cullet piece 30 which is heterogeneous in a heated gaseous phase. , 30...), And the mixed melt falls toward the liquid level of the glass melt G.

2 or more of the glass particles by which the glass cullet piece was liquefied at least by the glass raw material particle heating unit 14 before reaching the surface of the glass melt G, and the fusion | melted particle | grain is the glass melt G ) May land. Since at least the surface has a relatively large liquefied glass particle, the falling liquefied glass particles are easily in contact with each other, and when a plurality of liquefied glass particles contact each other, they are fused to form larger liquefied glass particles or masses. There is a case. In addition, many liquefied glass particles may become a flow of an integrated liquid to reach the glass melt (G).

By the way, as mentioned above, although the glass cullet piece 30 can be melt | dissolved completely in the fall by the high temperature of the flame 32, the glass cullet piece 30 compares with the liquid glass particle 38 of particulate form. Because the size is much larger, it is difficult to melt completely. In other words, when the glass cullet pieces 30, 30… are supplied in large quantities and continuously to the respective flames 32, 32…, the glass cullet pieces 30, 30… with a low melt-part volume ratio have a glass melt (G). Since it stays in the same area of), melt efficiency falls and it becomes a cause to inhibit homogeneity. In order to solve this problem, it is preferable to disperse | distribute the input of the glass cullet piece 30 intermittently and / or spatially.

Therefore, when the amount of glass cullet pieces per hour is large, the glass cullet pieces 30, 30... Are intermittently and simultaneously supplied to the respective flames 32, 32. It is desirable to.

That is, when the glass cullet piece 30 is intermittently supplied from the glass cullet piece supply part 46 to the feed container 42, the glass cullet pieces 30, 30 ... are intermittently supplied to each flame 32, 32 ... Moreover, since it is supplied simultaneously, the retention of the glass cullet pieces 30, 30 ... which generate | occur | produce in the same area | region of glass melt G can be prevented, and the homogeneity of glass melt G can be maintained further.

As described above, the glass cullet piece 30 does not need to be completely liquefied in a heated gaseous phase by the glass raw material particle heating unit, but the glass cullet piece 30 is disposed by arranging the plurality of oxygen combustion burners 34, 34. Since the melt rate of is improved, the amount of heat required for secondary heating required for homogenization of the glass melt can be reduced. Moreover, since the glass cullet pieces 30, 30 ... can be heated evenly by increasing the number of oxygen combustion burners 34, melt rate improves further. It is also possible to change the oxygen combustion burner 30 to a small capacity type as the number of uses of the oxygen combustion burner 30 increases. Thereby, the fuel used for the oxygen combustion burner 30 can be saved.

Therefore, according to this glass melting furnace, the glass cullet piece 30 can be thrown into the melting tank 16 so that homogeneity can be maintained, and it can fuse | melt. Thereby, since a glass raw material particle and a glass cullet piece can be used effectively, it becomes suitable for the large scale melting furnace suitable for the production of several tens of tons / day or more and several hundred tons / day or more of glass products.

In addition, since the oxygen combustion burner 34 does not preheat only the glass cullet piece 30 alone, the glass raw material particles 38 and the glass melt G in the melting tank 16 are also heated, so that the glass provided outside the furnace is provided. The function is completely different from the preheating device of the cullet piece.

4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the glass melting furnace 70 of the second embodiment constituting the glass melting furnace of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional plan view of a main part of the glass melting furnace 70, and the glass melting furnace 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is shown. The same or similar members as are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

The glass melting furnace 70 is equipped with one glass cullet piece input part 72 and three glass raw material particle heating units 14, 14 ..., These are attached to the ceiling wall 76 of the melting tank 74. Each penetrates downwardly. Moreover, although three glass raw material particle heating units 14 and 14 ... are arrange | positioned at equal intervals on concentric circles centering on the glass cullet piece input part 72, it is not limited to concentric circles, It is not limited. In addition, the feeding means 78 is formed in the glass cullet piece feeding unit 72.

The feeding means 78 includes a feeding cylinder 80 having an opening formed at a predetermined angle with respect to the vertical direction, a rotating means 82 for rotating the feeding cylinder 80 with the vertical direction as the rotation axis, and glass curl. It consists of the lip piece supply part 46.

The feed cylinder 80 is formed so as to penetrate the ceiling wall 76 in the vertical direction and freely rotate about the vertical axis via the bearing 84 attached to the ceiling wall 76. The lower part of this injection | throwing-in cylinder 80 is curved in the substantially horizontal direction, and 80 A of injection openings are formed in the edge part. Moreover, the gear 86 is formed in the outer peripheral part of the furnace outside of the input cylinder 80, the gear 88 meshes with this gear 86, and the output shaft of the motor 90 is connected to this gear 88. As shown in FIG. . Therefore, when the motor 90 is driven, the power is transmitted to the injection cylinder 80 via the gears 88 and 86, so that the injection cylinder 80 is rotated at a predetermined rotational speed about the vertical axis. In addition, the upper end part of the input cylinder 80 is connected to the air conveyance system 60 of the glass cullet piece supply part 46 via the rotary joint 92.

According to the feeding means 78 configured as described above, when the motor 90 is driven, the glass cullet pieces 30, 30... Collected in the hopper 54 are air-fed and supplied to the feeding cylinder 80 as described above. The feed container 80 is rotated together. Therefore, since the glass cullet pieces 30, 30 ... are supplied to the feeding cylinder 80 during rotation, they are sequentially directed toward the three flames 32, 32 ... from the feeding inlet 80A by air conveying force, gravity, centrifugal force, or the like. Projected by. That is, when the feeding cylinder 80 is rotated by the motor 90, the glass cullet pieces 30, 30... Are projected onto the first flame 32 that faces the feeding opening 80A, and the feeding cylinder 80 ) Is sequentially projected to the next flame (32). As a result, the glass cullet pieces 30 are sequentially projected onto the respective flames 32, 32..., The input space of the glass cullet pieces 30 is dispersed, and the glass curls are focused on one flame 32. The rip piece 30 is intermittently supplied. Therefore, according to this melting tank 74, since the injection of the glass cullet piece 30 can be performed spatially and intermittently, the glass cullet pieces 30, 30 ... stay in the same region of the glass melt G. Can be further prevented, and the homogeneity of the glass melt G can be further maintained.

In addition, although the injection cylinder 80 in which one injection hole 80A was formed is shown in FIG. 4, the number of injection holes 80A may be two or more. In short, the number of the injection holes 80A can be increased by forming the lower part of the injection | throwing-in cylinder 80 into two or three-pronged shapes.

6 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of a method for producing a glass article of the embodiment. In FIG. 6, in addition to the molten glass manufacturing process (S1) which is a component of the manufacturing method of a glassware, the shaping | molding process (S2) by a shaping | molding means, and the slow cooling process (S3) by a slow cooling means, it is further used as needed. A cutting step, and other post-process S4 are shown.

1? The glass melt G melt | dissolved in the melting tanks 16, 76 of FIG. The glass after molding is annealed by a slow cooling means (slow cooling step) so as not to leave residual stress inside the glass solidified after molding (cutting step), and further cut (cutting step) as necessary, and through other post-processing to become a glass product. .

For example, in the case of plate glass, the glass melt G is shape | molded by a glass ribbon by a shaping | molding means, and it is annealed by a slow cooling means, and it cuts to a desired size, and polishes a glass edge part as needed. After processing, plate glass is obtained.

The molten glass manufactured by the molten glass manufacturing method of this invention does not have a restriction | limiting in composition as long as it is a molten glass manufactured by the air heating melting method. Therefore, soda-lime glass or borosilicate glass may be sufficient. Moreover, the use of the glass goods manufactured is not limited to building use and a vehicle use, A flat panel display and other various uses are mentioned.

In the case of soda-lime glass used for building or vehicle glass, SiO ₂ : 65? 75%, Al ₂ O ₃ : 0? 3%, CaO: 5? 15%, MgO: 0? 15%, Na ₂ O: 10? 20%, K ₂ O: 0? 3%, Li ₂ O: 0? 5%, Fe ₂ O ₃ : 0? 3%, TiO ₂ : 0? 5%, CeO ₂ : 0? 3%, BaO ： 0? 5%, SrO: 0? 5%, B ₂ O ₃ : 0? 5%, ZnO: 0? 5%, ZrO ₂ : 0? 5%, SnO ₂ : 0? 3%, SO ₃ : 0? It is preferable to have a composition of 0.5%.

In the case of non-alkali glass used for liquid crystal display substrate, by mass percent representation of the oxide basis, SiO _2: 39? 70%, Al ₂ O ₃ : 3? 25%, B ₂ O ₃ : 1? 20%, MgO: 0? 10%, CaO: 0? 17%, SrO: 0? 20%, BaO: 0? It is preferable to have a composition of 30%.

In the case of mixed alkali glass used for the substrate for a plasma display, by mass percent representation of the oxide basis, SiO _2: 50? 75%, Al ₂ O ₃ : 0? 15%, MgO + CaO + SrO + BaO + ZnO: 6? 24%, Na ₂ O + K ₂ O: 6? It is preferable to have a composition of 24%.

As for any other purpose, in the case of the borosilicate glass used for heat-resistant containers or laboratory tools, by mass percent representation of the oxide basis, SiO _2: 60? 85%, Al ₂ O ₃ : 0? 5%, B ₂ O ₃ : 5? 20%, Na ₂ O + K ₂ O: 2? It is preferable to have a composition of 10%.

In this embodiment, although the glass raw material particle heating unit and the glass cullet piece input part were demonstrated as having installed in the perpendicular direction downward, it is not limited to this, If it is downward, it may be inclined and installed.

In this embodiment, although both the glass raw material particle heating unit and the glass cullet piece input part were described as being provided in the ceiling part of a glass melting furnace, it was not limited to this, but since both should just be in the upper part of a glass melting furnace, it is an example. For example, a glass cullet piece input part may be provided in the ceiling part of a glass melting furnace, and a glass raw material particle heating unit may be provided in the side wall part of a heating melting furnace.

In this embodiment, although the ceiling surface of a melting tank was demonstrated as having a flat shape, it is not limited to this, It is good also as an arch shape, a dome shape, etc ..

Moreover, in this embodiment, although the glass melting furnace which has one combination which consists of a glass cullet piece input part and several glass raw material particle heating units arrange | positioned in the glass melting furnace was demonstrated, such a combination is in a glass melting furnace. You may form in multiple numbers. For example, in FIG. 2 and FIG. 5, the glass melting furnace 10 has one combination consisting of the glass cullet piece injection unit 12 and 72 and the plurality of glass raw material particle heating units 14, 14. It is not limited to this, You may form two or more such combinations in a glass melting furnace.

Industrial availability

The molten glass manufactured by this invention is shape | molded into glass products of various shapes by shaping | molding means, such as a float bath, a fusion molding machine, a rollout molding machine, a blow molding machine, and a press molding machine.

In addition, all the content of the JP Patent application 2009-174324, a claim, drawing, and the abstract for which it applied on July 27, 2009 is referred here, and it introduces as an indication of the specification of this invention.

10 glass melting furnace 12 glass cullet piece input unit
14: glass raw material particle heating unit (heating means for forming the glass raw material particle input portion and the high temperature gas phase portion)
16 molten bath 17 side wall
18: outlet (outlet) 20: ceiling wall
30: glass cullet 32: flame
34: oxygen combustion burner (heating means) 36: nozzle
38: liquid glass particles 40: charging means
42: injection container 44: guide member
46 glass cullet piece supply portion 48 connection member
50: vertical axis 52: horizontal axis
54 Hopper 60: Air Carrier
62 supply system 64 furnace bottom
70: glass melting furnace 72: glass cullet piece input unit
74: melting bath 76: ceiling wall
78: input means 80: input container
82: rotation means 84: bearing
86: gear 88: gear
90: motor 92: rotary joint

Claims (8)

As a glass melting furnace which discharges the glass melt by making glass raw material particle into a liquid glass particle in the gaseous-phase atmosphere in a glass melting furnace, accumulating the said liquid glass particle in the bottom part of a glass melting furnace, and making it into a glass melt,
A glass cullet piece feeding part formed through the ceiling of the glass melting furnace,
A plurality of glass raw material particle input parts disposed around the glass cullet piece feeding part in a plan view and provided downward in the furnace wall part of the upper part in the glass melting furnace,
Heating means for forming a gaseous phase portion including the glass raw material particles as liquid glass particles under the glass raw material particle injection portion formed for each of the plurality of glass raw material particle injection portions;
A furnace bottom portion which accumulates the liquid glass particles to form a glass melt, and
A discharge part for discharging the glass melt,
And the glass cullet piece feeding unit includes feeding means for feeding the glass cullet piece radially toward the gas phase part. The method of claim 1,
The injecting means is a glass melting furnace, which is provided with a conical guide member having a top part connected to an inlet tube and a gap through which a glass cullet piece can pass through a lower opening of the inlet tube. The method of claim 1,
The said injection means is a glass melting furnace provided with the input cylinder which has the opening opening made in the predetermined angle with respect to the perpendicular direction, and the rotating means which rotates the said injection cylinder using the vertical direction as a rotation axis. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The said glass melting furnace is a glass melting furnace in which the said some glass raw material particle input part is arrange | positioned along the concentric circle centering on the said glass cullet piece input part in planar view. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The heating means is at least one of a multiphase arc plasma generating apparatus comprising an oxygen combustion burner for generating an oxygen combustion flame and at least one pair of electrodes for generating a thermal plasma. The molten glass is manufactured using the glass melting furnace in any one of Claims 1-5, The manufacturing method of the molten glass characterized by the above-mentioned. The glass melting furnace as described in any one of Claims 1-5, the shaping | molding means which shape | molds the molten glass formed in the downstream of the said discharge part of the said glass melting furnace, and the slow cooling means which cools the glass after shaping | molding, It is characterized by the above-mentioned. The manufacturing apparatus of the glassware made with it. The manufacturing method of the glass product including the process of manufacturing a molten glass by the manufacturing method of the molten glass of Claim 6, the process of shape | molding the said molten glass, and the process of cooling the glass after shaping | molding.

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